The Problem with Fairies
by SakuraMoriChan
Summary: All Alfred wanted was a friend. He didn't expect that wish to come true, or for that friend to be a rather irritable fairy named Arthur! USUK and possibly other pairings. AU
1. Beginnings and Fairies

_I...I have NO idea how I came up with this one o_O I was just bored at school and...this happened XD This story would probably be better as a K+ then a T, but you can never be too careful XD_

* * *

It wasn't a good day for Alfred. He had gotten an after school detention for getting in a fight with a certain Russian,(who, for some reason, only got off with a light warning) which meant he missed all the buses that went to his house, which also meant he had to walk home.

And did I mention it was raining?

The only reason he wasn't completely soaked was because his brother Matthew had made him take an umbrella to school. But of course this umbrella was filled with holes, so it wasn't exactly doing its job properly.

"Stupid umbrella" Alfred muttered under his breath. "Stupid rain. Stupid teacher for making me stay after school. Stupid school for existing. Stupid Ivan for...for...for everything!" He said angrily. "And...stupid Matthew for abandoning me. And stupid Kiku, for...well, he didn't do anything yet, but still!"

It was so unfair too! Everyone had been cheering them on when they were fighting, but when the teachers came to break them up everyone immediately said he was the one who had started it. No one said that Ivan had been threatening Toris (that's what it seemed like to Alfred at least) and that, like the completely amazing and awesome hero he was, he had tried to stop the Russian.

No one had stood up for him.

If Matthew and Kiku had been there they would have said something. Well...maybe. Matthew had been playing hockey with Ivan lately, so they _kind of _got along. Kiku was one of Alfred's closest friends, plus he didn't like Ivan, but he had a habit of reading the atmosphere (whatever the heck that meant) and saying nothing.

The rain seemed to get heavier as Alfred's mood dropped.

He was loud, arrogant, and tended to go into situations without really thinking about them. Because of this people usually thought of him as annoying. Which also meant he didn't have many friends.

In fact, he practically only had one friend. Kiku Honda, a quiet Japanese boy who had a rather large otaku side. He didn't really count Matthew 'cause he was his brother, so they had to get along. Sometimes.

Toris was usually pretty nice to him, but then he was nice to everyone, even Ivan at times.

"A friend..." Alfred said sadly "I wish I had a friend. Someone who I could talk to whenever I needed to, who would stand up for me...and..."

Alfred stopped. A little bit ahead; someone was wandering about, a lost expression on their face. They were shivering from the damp and cold, and, for some reason, were wearing a long black robe.

"Hey! Um...Are you okay?" He asked the new person.

The stranger looked up at him nervously. Alfred immediately had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing. His eyebrows were _huge_.

"I...I'm fine" He said. There was a sort of suspicious tone in his voice.

"Okay...Are you lost?" the American asked worriedly.

The robed person sighed "You could say that...I'm meant to be looking for someone but I'm not too sure where to go"

Alfred hummed thoughtfully. His parents would never let him take a stranger in off the streets after what happened last time. But he couldn't exactly leave him...

"There's a hotel down the road from here" Alfred said finally "It's pretty nice. If you have some money you could stay there. If it's just for one night it should be cheap..."

"I suppose I'll have to" The stranger shivered again.

The American looked at his umbrella, to the stranger, then to his umbrella again. He was near his house so it shouldn't matter too much...

"Here" He handed the umbrella to the British person, who blinked in surprise. "My home's just a couple of streets away and you look like you've been in the rain for a while. It has a few holes in, but it should still keep you a little less wet then you already are..."

The stranger stared at Alfred in shock "But why would you...?"

"'Cause I'm Alfred F. Jones, the _Hero_ in case you didn't know" The American grinned even though he was now getting drenched by the rain.

"Oh" The stranger's eyes widened "_Oh_. So you're..." He started fumbling inside the pockets in his robe furiously.

Alfred stepped back slightly when what looked like a business card was suddenly thrust in front of his face.

"I'm meant to give this to you" He said, slightly relieved.

The American took the card uncertainly. It was hard to read in the downpour, but he could make out the words:

**_Dear Sir/Madam_**

**_Congratulations _**_-Inset name here- **! A fairy has now been assigned to you. Being assigned to a human is important for a fairy's final stage of learning. We hope that this experience will be beneficial for both you and **-Insert name here-**.**_

**_Good luck!_**

Alfred wondered to himself if he had misread the card "What the _hell _is this?" He nearly yelled at the very strange stranger. If he had been there, that is.

He was gone.

* * *

"I'm back~" Alfred collapsed through the front door and dragged himself into the living room.

"Welcome home" Matthew was curled up on the couch, reading a book on...maple syrup? "How was detention?"

Alfred managed to crawl onto a seat "It's _detention_. How do you_ think _it was?"

"I've never had one so I wouldn't know" Matthew didn't try very hard to hide the smug tone in his voice. "Why did you get in a fight with Ivan in the first place?"

"He was threatening Toris! I couldn't just stand there!" Alfred said in his defence.

"...Al, Ivan wasn't in school yesterday so he was asking Toris what he missed. He wasn't 'threatening' him."

Alfred scoffed "That's just what that psyco _wants _you to think. If Ivan was just asking him what happened, why did Toris look so scared?"

"'Cause Ivan scares everyone. Even the teachers. Which is probably why he didn't get stuck in detention too" Matthew said coolly.

"No, the reason Ivan didn't get detention was because everyone immediately blamed me for the whole thing!" Alfred said angrily. "They made it seem like I had attacked him out of nowhere!"

"You _did _attack him out of nowhere!"

Alfred glared at his slightly younger brother. "Sorry for thinking that you'd understand!" He huffed "Where are our parents anyway? I'm surprised they didn't yell at me the moment I came through the door..."

"Only one of them is actually our parent" Matthew sighed "They've gone out. Unless the school calls home or something they won't find out the reason for your after school detention. They'll probably just think that you forgot to take your P.E kit again"

"I only did that one time!" Alfred groaned as he stood up "Whatever, I'm gonna get changed. I'm completely soaked..."

Matthew looked up from his book in confusion "I told you it was going to rain. What happened to your umbrella?"

"I gave it to some weird British dude. It was full of holes anyway" Alfred said quickly before climbing up the stairs. The last thing he needed right now was his brother lecturing him for giving away things to strangers. Again.

All Alfred wanted to do now was flop onto his bed and fall asleep. Forget changing clothes, he was _tired. _He could always sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and get some food. Would Matthew notice if he took one of his pancakes?

He was ready to do all of the above as he opened the door to his room, but stopped. There was someone sitting on his bed...and reading his comics?

The stranger from before looked up nonchalantly. "Ah, good you're here. I was starting to get bored of these" he held up the comic for Alfred to see "I don't get this obvious obsession with superhero's you have" he smirked faintly.

Alfred started to slowly get over the initial shock you get when you find someone else in your room. But unfortunately he could only say a few words, such as "What...you...how...why?"

"I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Arthur Kirkland" Arthur held out his hand to the American as he stood up.

Said American was still too stunned to do anything.

Arthur seemed to realise this and let his hand drop. "You know, I had a lot of trouble finding this place" He said, trying to break the awkward silence "Peter decided to hide all of my research and I could only remember the city you lived in. And the rest of my brothers actually supported that little-" the Brit caught himself before he could say anything _too _bad. "Anyway, I had to get by with your directions. Do you _know _how many houses there are 'a few streets away'?"

Whatever kind of reply Arthur had been expecting, it was _not_ a lamp being thrown at his head.

"Who are you and why are you in my house?" Alfred screeched as Arthur narrowly ducked away from the lamp, which shattered as it hit the wall. "And _how _did you get in my house?"

"Arthur Kirkland...I..." the Brit looked puzzled. "Didn't you read the card?"

"Y-yeah I did...it was just some weird stuff about fairies..." Alfred said nervously, not taking his eyes off the mysterious British person.

"Exactly. That's why I'm here"

Alfred was obviously annoyed "Look. Just go before I kick you out. I'm not allowed to let in any more homeless people" he said firmly "If you go now I _might _not call the police on you for breaking into my house. And if you don't go willingly, let me tell you that my brother's downstairs, and you _don't _want to mess with him. He's Canadian"

Arthur frowned "If you're American why is your brother Canadian?"

"Long story...well, I guess it's not that long...Hey! That's not the point!" Alfred said angrily. "Just leave!"

"I can't" Arthur said simply. "I've been assigned to you"

"And what the _hell_ is that supposed to mean?"

"When my kind are at their final stage of learning, we have to go stay with a human to watch and assist them. It's meant to help us learn what it's like to live in the human world" Arthur explained. "I guess you could think of it like some kind of work experience"

The American blinked "Your kind...what?"

"Yes, my kind. I'm a fairy"

There was a short silence.

"That's it" Alfred grabbed Arthur's shoulder, his eyes full of concern. "I'm taking you to the hospital"

* * *

_First chapter finished XD This will probably be something I work on when I'm bored or having trouble with other stories, 'cause you can go lots of ways with this one XD I know I said it's USUK in the description, but honestly I don't know how much USUK o_O I've never wrote romance before, only small hints, so I don't know if they'll be friends or start to fall in love or whatever XD Anyway, please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


	2. Polar Bears and Acceptance

_Update XD_

* * *

"I don't need the hospital!" Arthur said furiously.

"Yes, yes I understand" Alfred said calmly "Don't worry, I'll call these very nice people. They'll take you somewhere safe"

"Don't talk to me like that" The Brit scowled "I'm not a child, or insane. Everything I just told you was the truth!"

Alfred smiled "Of course it was. Now you should just sit down while I-"

"I'm not insane!" Arthur shouted.

"Look" Alfred said "In this day and age, people who go around calling themselves fairies are usually thought of as crazy. If you really are a fairy, why don't you prove it?"

Athur glared at the American "Fine, here!" He picked something up that had been on the bed with him and motioned for Alfred to take it.

It took a while for him to realise what it was. "My umbrella?" Alfred asked slowly as he took it from the British 'fairy' "How does that prove-" His eyes widened as he examined the it "Holy-! You...how?" Before, the umbrella had been full of holes and worn from use. So why did it now look brand new?

"I fixed it" Arthur said casually.

"Let me guess, you're going to say you did this with 'magic'" Alfred huffed "How do I know you didn't just buy a new one?"

"Right, because if I was a normal human, it'd be easy for me to go back and find a shop that sells an umbrella identical to yours, and still manage to get to your home before you" Arthur said sarcastically.

"Well...it's possible!" Alfred said hopefully. He pointed to the lamp that had broken when he threw it. "Okay, if you really are some kind of magical fairy, then fix the lamp!"

Arthur smirked "That's easy" He said kneeling down next to the broken pieces. "Lets see...if I do this...Yes, that should do it!"

Alfred immediately shut his eyes as a blinding light filled the room. _What the hell is he doing? _He thought worriedly.

"Hey, you can open your eyes now"

The American blinked as he tried to get the colours out of his vision. Arthur was standing in front of him, a triumphant smile on his face.

"Here" he gave him the lamp which now had no signs of ever being broken "So, do you believe me now?"

"...That's...that's not possible!" Alfred managed to splutter, placing the lamp onto the floor carefully, as if he was expecting it to explode.

"You said you'd believe me if I fixed the lamp!"

"I never said that! And anyway, you must of fixed it some other way! Like..." Alfred thought for a few seconds "You could be an alien!" His face was completely serious.

Arthur stared at Alfred for a while before he burst out laughing. "An alien? Really? Don't tell me that your obsessed with aliens too!"

Alfred blushed furiously "It's better then calling yourself a fairy! And aren't fairies meant to be tiny girls with wings and dresses made of flowers or something?"

"You read to many children's books" Arthur snickered. "I suppose a long time ago we were what you would think of as 'flower fairies', but since your kind started destroying forests and other places where we could of lived, we were forced to start living with you humans" there was suddenly a slight bitter tone in his voice.

"Um...sorry?" Alfred said uncertainly.

There was a light tapping at the door "Alfred?" Matthew stepped in worriedly as he opened it "There's a lot of yelling going on up here. Who are you talking to?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Mattie, I was talking to..." He turned around, expecting to see Arthur in the same place. But the British man had completely vanished "...No one?" Alfred said confusedly.

"Then why were you shouting?" Matthew asked.

"I...um..." Alfred said blankly "Was...practicing for a play?"

Matthew looked around expectantly "I don't see a script anywhere..."

"Yeah, um...I already memorised it" Alfred laughed "Isn't that amazing?"

"I guess...Well, good luck" Matthew scanned the room again before closing the door. Alfred sighed in relief as he heard the Canadian's light footsteps go down the stairs.

"So that was your brother?" Alfred spun around to find Arthur sitting on his bed again, smiling as if nothing had happened "He doesn't seem as scary as you made him out to be"

"You...go..._now_" Alfred hissed.

Arthur blinked "But I told you, I've been assigned to you. I'm not allowed to leave until-"

"I don't care!" Alfred snapped. "I don't care if you're a fairy or not! In case you haven't noticed, I don't believe in them! I never have, not even when I was a kid! And I don't want Matthew think that I'm insane like you" Alfred tried to keep himself from shouting but his voice still came out pretty loud.

The Brit's eyes narrowed "You're really starting to piss me off"

"Then go away! Go and steal some child's tooth or whatever it is you 'fairies' do! The last thing I need right now is some big eyebrowed pixie!" Alfred yelled.

"Fine I will!" Arthur shouted back "I'm sorry for thinking that you could actually help me!" there was another flash of light. By the time it started to fade Alfred alredy knew that Arthur was gone.

The door swung open "This...sounds like a really weird play" Matthew said hesitantly.

* * *

The next morning wasn't as bad as the day before, but it was definitely weirder.

Alfred had been trying to convice himself that the strange British man had just been a dream. But he couldn't help but feel guilty when he thought about Arthur. He had looked kind of...sad before he had vanished. Sure, Alfred had been pretty freaked out by the whole thing, but maybe he shouldn't of yelled at him...

The American was thinking this as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. Except it wasn't cereal that fell into the bowl, it was..._acorns? _

He picked one up carefully. Yep, it was definitely an acorn. But why were there acorns in a cereal box?

_Maybe it's some kind of mistake..._Alfred sighed as he got up to go to the kitchen. Maybe he could just make some toast...He would of done at least, if there hadn't been another surprise waiting for him.

"_What? _Is that a _polar bear?" _ Alfred yelled in shock. A small bear, that was eating out of their rubbish bin, looked up at him curiously. "S-shoo! Go home!" He said desperately. The bear just went back to eating the rubbish.

_Did...Arthur do this? _The American thought slowly. _That damn fairy!_

There was a very loud scream from upstairs, followed by a yell of _"Alfred!"_

Alfred briefly wondered what he was going to be blamed for, and tried to decide if it would be better to escape out of the back window before it was too late.

"Oh, Alfie~ Are you going somewhere?" Alfred froze. There was only one person who called him 'Alfie' with that sing song tone of voice. And he hadn't even heard him come down the stairs.

"O-oh, hey Matthew. I was just..." He stopped when he saw his brother. And it wasn't because Matthew was holding a hockey stick, or because of the insane look in his eyes.

"Hey, Al. Do you notice something different about me?" Matthew asked sweetly.

"I...er...um..."

Matthew expression turned dark. "My hair's blue, Alfred. _**It's blue!**_"

If this had been someone else, Alfred would of burst out laughing. But unfortunately for him, the blue haired Canadian in front of him was Matthew Williams.

And he was holding a hockey stick.

"P-please believe me when I say I had _nothing _to do with this!" Alfred squeaked before making a dive for the window- for freedom.

"Hey! You get back here, and-! Why is there a polar bear in here?" Matthew shrieked as Alfred jumped into the garden.

"I'm really sorry, Mattie!" Alfred called, jumping over the fence in the back garden. He ran as fast as he could, the only thought going through his head: _That damn fairy!_

It was only when he paused for breath that he realised where he was. Somehow he had managed to escape to the woods near the back of his house. Alfred used to play there all the time with Matthew and-

A lump formed in his throat. That was a long time ago.

"That was funny" a voice chuckled from behind him. Alfred didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Arthur" Alfred turned to face the British man. Arthur was leaning against a tree calmly, as if he hadn't even spoken "What the _hell _was all of that?"

"My, my, whatever are you talking about?" Arthur asked innocently, even though his eyes were glittering with satisfaction.

"You know exactly what! What was with the acorns, and my brothers hair, and...and the fricken _polar bear_?" Alfred yelled.

"I told you yesterday- you pissed me off. It's never a good idea to piss of a fairy" Arthur tutted, as if he was telling a child not to steal sweets "You never know what they can do"

Alfred sighed. "Okay, maybe I was a _little _harsh yesterday..." Arthur blinked at him in confusion "...But that still gives you no right to make everythin crazy at my house! I'm willing to forgive most of it, but at the very least can you turn my brother's hair back? That guys going to kill me..."

"Sorry, I'm only allowed to use magic to help humans I'm assigned to" Arthur smiled.

"Then what the hell was all of _that?"_

"That wasn't helping you, was it?"

"Oh, alright!" Alfred said in defeat "If...I agree to this whole 'assigned' thing, will you fix Matthew's hair?"

"Hmm...I don't know if I actually _want _to be assigned to you..."Arthur said with a faint smirk.

"Arthur, I swear, if you don't-"

The British man laughed "Joking, joking. Neither of us actually have a choice in this" He stepped closer to the American. "I suppose if this is going to work we should start over. Hello, my name is Arthur Kirkland" Arthur reached out his hand for Alfred to take.

Alfred stared at it for a little bit before grabbing it "Alfred F. Jones"

* * *

_I'll end it there for now XD At least they're sort of getting along now XD I've noticed that Alfred seems to say 'hell' alot o_O Also, about the 'hair is blue' thing, I couldn't help but use that reference XD Anyway, please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


	3. Heading Back and Uniforms

_It's been about a month since I've updated this o_O I guess that was due to writer's block, but today I had an idea of what could happen at the end, so I got motivated to write more of this story XD_

* * *

"How am I gonna explain this to my family?" Alfred suddenly asked. He and Arthur had been walking back to the American's house (they weren't in a hurry since it was Saturday, and Alfred wanted to give Matthew enough time to calm down...) and had only been trading a few words and occasional insults.

Arthur blinked at him, but decided to go for the most obvious thing "It's 'going to'. Who the hell came up with 'gonna' in the first place? And what do you mean, anyway?"

"Well, I can't exactly just say to everyone; 'oh, hey! This is Arthur, he's a fairy that's staying with us for some reason that I still don't understand'"

"I told you, I've been assigned to you. That means we're stuck with each other. And anyway, if that's the only thing that's bothering you, I can just alter their memories" Arthur said this as if it was one of the most casual things in the world.

Alfred stopped walking, taking a moment to mentally go through what the British man had just said. "Alter their-...You mean you can change their memories?" he frowned, obviously worried. "Isn't that...I don't know, dangerous?"

"Of course not" Arthur almost huffed. "All I have to do is change their memories slightly so that they think I'm some kind of exchange student that has to stay at your house, or something similar. That's one of the most simple things a fairy could do"

"Okay, okay...But...nothing will go wrong, right? I'm not going to go home and find my family thinks they're monkeys or something, right?" Alfred asked, trying to play off the question as a sort of joke, even though he was truly nervous.

"Nothing can go wrong, Alfred" Arthur reasurred. "This is one of the first things we're expected to do when we get assigned to a human. We have to practice it a million times before we're even let out into your world. This would be easier then fixing that lamp"

"O-okay..." Alfred said hesitantly. "Just so you know, I'm still not completely convinced that you're a fairy"

"Ugh...Are all human so stubborn?"

"It's just...if faires exist, then why not vampires, and werewolfs, and goblins, and, and...I don't know, unicorns!" Alfred exclaimed loudly.

"Huh? Oh, they do" Arthur replied nonchalantly.

Alfred tried looking for any sign that the Brit was joking, but his face was serious. "Okay..." he said after an awkward silence. "Why are you wearing that?"

Arthur looked down at his clothes. He was wearing a long dark purple robe, that was trailing on the sleeves were too long for his arms. "This is my uniform" he said simply.

"Uniform for what?"

"School" Arthur looked at Alfred confusedly. "Doesn't your school have a uniform?"

"My school is non-uniform...And anyway, what kind of school uniform is that? It looks like something a wizard would wear..." Alfred looked at material suspiciously. "Don't tell me you're going to be following me around wearing _that_..."

"I don't have to wear this. I can change into something else if I need to" Arthur said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Good. What other clothes have you got?" Alfred couldn't help but notice Arthur pale slightly. "Er...you do _have _other clothes...right?"

Arthur looked away from the American, blushing slightly. "This is all we ever have to wear at my school...No one has any other clothes, they usually just buy or borrow them once they get here..." he laughed nervously. "Say...you wouldn't happen to have any I could borrow, would you?"

"Er...Don't you have any money?" Alfred faltered when he saw Arthur shake his head. "Why not? Okay, forget that, what _do _you have?"

"Um..." Arthur looked up in an attempt to remember. "What I'm wearing now, a spell book, a pen, a pencil and a notebook" Arthur finished, smiling.

"Dude, that's it?" Alfred stared at him in horror. "You literally don't own anything else? But...that's barely anything!"

"Oh, no" Arthur shook his head. "I have much more then other faires. Most of them don't have a pen"

"Then...what do other faries get?"

"They usually just start with a pencil and a notebook"

It took a while for Alfred to say anything else. "How can you act like that's completely normal?" he eventually yelled.

Arthur jumped back slightly. "Isn't it? They started giving faires they were 'worried' about a spell book a few years ago, and someone I know from the outside gave me the pen..."

"'Worried'...? What-?...Okay, you know what? Just forget it. My parents are going to kill me if I'm not back soon..." Alfred continued walking, but then looked over his shoulder at Arthur. "Just...do that memory change thing"

The Brit nodded, closing his eyes as he started to glow. Alfred watched, a little nervously, as the light intensified to the point where it was almost blinding.

He blinked when the light faded. "So...that's it? My family think that they know you now?"

"I told you it was easy"

"Yeah..." Alfred eyes widened. "Wait, what about my brothers hair? Did you turn that back?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "No, I completely forgot about the thing you were yelling at me about five minutes ago" he said sarcastically. "Of course I did. It should be pretty much normal again"

Alfred decided to ignore the 'should' and 'pretty much'. "Good..." he grinned. "'Hey, how about a race back to my house? I bet I'll beat you!" he started running before Arthur could even answer.

He couldn't help but wince as he ran through the forest. He was so scared of his younger brother that he didn't think about getting any shoes or even a jacket. So right now, Alfred was a bit cold, and had a few stones digging into his feet.

The American leaped over the fence that lead to his back garden easily. He had done it enough times before, and could probably do it with his eyes closed if he wanted to. Except he wasn't allowed to do that, since the last time he had tried he had somehow ended up breaking his arm, but still.

"Hey, Mattie?" Alfred called, forgetting about the British fairy. He stepped through the house anxiously. "Um...Are you-?" He stopped as he walked into the living room, noticing three things.

1: Matthew's hair was (thankfully) back to normal.

2: Arthur was sitting next to Matthew on the couch.

3: His brother was holding the polar bear from before.

Alfred honestly didn't know which one of these things to ask about first.

"Oh, hey Alfred" Matthew suddenly said, noticing Alfred gaping at them from the door. "Something wrong?"

"Um...Er...Ah...Hair?" Alfred asked numbly.

Matthew twisted a lock of his blondish hair around his finger. "I know, it's weird, right? It was definitely blue when I looked in the mirror, but when I looked later, it was normal again" he looked at his brother, slightly surprised. "Did you put some kind of hair dye in my shampoo that fades out on it's own? Personally, I didn't know they even made that, but..."

"Hey, that wasn't me! I didn't do anything to your-"

"Then why did you run away this morning?" Alfred glared at Arthur, who had just spoken up (apparently) innocently.

"Yes, Alfred. Why?" The Canadian's voice lowered suddenly, to the point where it sounded malicious.

"I...was just going out jogging...?" Alfred said uncertainly. "A-and another thing, why is he there?" he pointed at the Brit angrily. Arthur's eyes widened in obviously fake surprise.

"What do you mean?" Matthew frowned. "Arthur's a foreign exchange student. He's living with us for a while. Did you forget that?"

"No..." _Memory change. Right. _"I...I meant the polar bear!" Alfred continued determinedly. "Why the hell is that thing there?"

"Huh...?" Matthew asked blankly. "Oh, I found him in the kitchen. I think he might of run away from a zoo or something"

"Then call the zoo and tell them to take him back" Alfred sighed. He was really going through too much at once.

He was caught off guard when he noticed Matthew pout slightly. "...Do we have to...? I was kind of hoping we could...I don't know...keep it?" he looked up at Alfred hopefully.

Alfred glanced at Arthur blankly, but he only received a shrug in reply.

"Mattie...Dude...We can't keep a polar bear" Alfred tried to say calmly.

"But..."

"Come on, what would our parents say?"

"But only one of them-"

"I know!" Alfred exhaled in an attempt to stop himself from raising his voice. "I know...but..."

Arthur looked between the two brothers bewilderedly. "...Are you two arguing?"

"We're not" Alfred replied firmly. He glared at Arthur irritably. "And just so you know, I'll let this whole memory thing slide, but if I find out you've done anything weird to my family then I'll...um...Just don't do anything!" he finished furiously, stomping out of the room.

Matthew turned to Arthur, puzzled. "What was that about?"

"Who knows?" Arthur lied, trying to hide a faint smirk.

* * *

_Chapter finish~ And I am super happy right now, 'cause it's SUMMER HOLIDAYS *0* No school, YAY XD Anyway, please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


	4. Strangers and Clothes

_Update~ XD_

* * *

"You slept there last night?" Alfred asked, eyebrow raised as he watched the British fairy who was currently passed out on Alfred's couch.

"Mmm" Was the only answer Arthur gave, still deep in sleep. Alfred just sighed. It was still too early in the morning for him to be bothered with anything he considered strange.

And a fairy sleeping in his living room was definitely strange...

He decided to ignore the Brit until he woke up, switching the TV on. He ended up sitting on the arm of the couch, knowing that Arthur wouldn't be happy if he had to move him.

He lost himself in the TV for about half an hour before there was a knock at the door. He sighed again, wondering who could be at the door so early in the morning. Even he never got up that early, the only reason he was awake at that moment was because he was worried about what Arthur could do.

"Yes?" he asked, a little irritably.

A man with long blonde hair smiled at him warmly. "Bonjour" he said cheerfully.

"Er...hey?" Alfred looked at him suspiciously, at the bag that the Frenchman was holding. "Look, we don't want whatever you're selling..." Alfred said, going to close the door.

"No, no, you misunderstand" the Frenchman said quickly, using his foot to stop the door from fully closing "I was just wondering, is this the house Arthur is staying in?"

Alfred blinked, letting the door swing open. "You know Arthur...?" he asked in surprise.

The mysterious French person's smile widened. "Oui. We're very close-" he seemed to think about what he had been about to say. "Well...maybe not friends..." he said carefully, "rivals would probably be a better way to put it...But we've known each other for a long time" The smile was back. "My name is Francis Bonnefoy" he said, holding out his hand for Alfred to take.

"Alfred F. Jones..." Alfred replied, taking the hand cautiously. "So, what? Are you a fairy too?"

Francis laughed. "No, nothing like that. But I am on their side" he said, as if pointing out something casual.

"...'On their side'...? What are you?" Alfred stopped as Francis pressed the bad into Alfred's hands.

"Can you please give that to Arthur for me?" Francis asked. "He probably wouldn't accept it if I gave it to him personally, but maybe if you do..."

"Um...Sure?" Alfred said, peeking inside the bag. A few sets of shirts, trousers were inside. "So why-?" he looked up, expecting to still see the Frenchman smiling at him. But Francis was gone. The only sign that he had actually been there was the bag Alfred was holding.

_How many of these weirdoes am I gonna have to meet? _Alfred asked himself, closing the door behind him as he went back inside the house.

He noticed Arthur stir as he went back into the living room, but he didn't fully wake up.

"Hey, Arthur?" Alfred asked gently. The only reply he got was Arthur muttering something about some kind of mint coloured flying bunny. He huffed. "Yo, Artie!" Alfred raised his voice slightly, this time throwing the bag at Arthur.

"Huh?" Arthur gasped, looking around wildly. "O-one does not simply ride a unicorn into London!"

"Dude, calm down, it's me" Alfred said, slightly worried about what kind of dream Arthur could have possibly had to say something like that.

"O-oh...Alfred" Arthur said, his mind still slightly numb from sleep. He noticed the bag, looking inside it warily. "...What's this?" he asked warily.

"Clothes" Alfred said simply. "Some French guy called Francis told me to give them to you.

Arthur, who had been inspecting one of the shirts, pushed the bag away in disgust at the mention of the Frenchman. "_Francis?_" he asked in disbelief. "How the bloody hell did that frog find me so soon...? Dammit, and here I was hoping I could actually get rid of him..."

"So you do know him" Alfred realised. "Who is he, exactly?"

"Just someone I wish I didn't know" Arthur said bitterly.

"Okay..." Alfred said slowly. "So, _what _is he? He said he wasn't a fairy..."

"It doesn't matter" the British fairy through the bag of clothes on to the couch. "You might as well just burn those" Arthur told Alfred, "I'm not wearing them"

Alfred stared at the neglected bag sympathetically for a few seconds. "But you told me you didn't have anything else besides the clothes you're wearing now" Alfred gestured to the robe that Arthur had been wearing for the past two days. "Those clothes actually seemed pretty nice. I'm not buying you any others, so you might as well wear them"

"Seriously?" Arthur scoffed, staring at the bag grudgingly. "...I'll think about it" he said finally. He started to walk out of the room. "I'm hungry. Since I'm the one living with you, I'll cook something, okay?"

"Sure, that's fine" Alfred said, feeling slightly happier at the idea of food.

He soon found out that he should never ever let Arthur cook. Ever. For the sake of everyone he held near and dear, and possibly the entire world.

* * *

Matthew woke up to the sound of screaming. He sighed, picking up his glasses from the table on the side of his bed.

"No! Why would you put _mustard _and _Tabasco sauce _together?"

"Huh? Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"Who the _hell _gave you that idea?"

"Okay, okay...I'll just add this to make it better then-"

"Adding _curry powder's _not going to help at all! How-?" There was a sudden (manly) shriek. "Holy-! It's on fire!"

"Hmm...That means flavour, right?"

The Canadian listened to this hurried conversation, mystified. What the hell was going on down there?

There was a faint chuckle. "He always was terrible at cooking..."

Matthew turned in surprise, seeing a man with long blonde hair smiling nostalgically at the other end of the room. "Wha...?"

The man blinked in surprise. "Ah, désolé. I didn't see you there" the Frenchman apologized before vanishing suddenly.

"...Huh?" Matthew decided that he was either in a dream or still very tired, and went back to sleep.

* * *

_Yeah...not sure what to put here...Please review and tell me what you think? ^_^'_


	5. Demons and Tomatoes

_Update :) _

* * *

"So you're supposed to just follow me?" Alfred asked skeptically, looking back at the Brit who was trailing behind him. "Seriously, what are you supposed to do for this whole assigned thing?"

"All I've got to do is stay with you until I get called back" Arthur shrugged. "Or until I fail, which ever"

"Fail?" Alfred blinked "How exactly do you fail?"

"Well..." Arthur started thoughtfully "I suppose you dying would count as a fail"

"Huh...So, no dying then..."

"Exactly" A pause. "Where are we going?"

"The park" Alfred said simply. "I'm meeting a friend there. I don't mind you hanging out there too as long as you don't do anything...weird"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Define 'weird'"

"You know, anything..._magicky_"

"..._'Magicky'? _Really?"

"Not the point!" Alfred said, ignoring the fact that he could feel his face flushing. "Just act like a normal person, and don't do that weird vanishing thing you sometimes do, or anything that involves magic until I say it's okay!"

"Fine, fine" Arthur sighed "You're such a kill joy..."

"Hey, I just don't want to be held responsible for you turning people into frogs or whatever!" Alfred said.

"I've only ever _thought _about doing that to _one _person, and that was because he was already a stupid frog..."

"...You tried turning a frog into a frog?"

"No, I mean..." Arthur groaned "Just forget it!"

They continued walking until they reached the park. Really though, it was just a huge field with a path running through it. Children were playing together on the grass and couples were either sitting at the benches or walking dogs. There was a stand just a little bit down the path where an angry man was selling tomatoes.

"How...plain" Arthur commented, earning a halfhearted glare from Alfred.

"It might not be much, but I used to play here all the time with Mattie when we were kids. It took our minds off things..." Alfred smiled nostalgically, scanning the field. "Although, I don't remember there ever being a guy selling tomatoes. Who'd buy tomatoes in a park? You'd expect that sort of thing to be at a market or something...If you ask me, it's pretty stup-_AH!_" Alfred cried out as his vision was suddenly filled with red. He was vaguely aware of Arthur jumping away from him in surprise.

"Bastard!" a voice with an Italian accent yelled "Don't you dare call tomatoes stupid!"

Alfred wiped off the the tomato remains from his face. "Dude, that wasn't cool!" he shouted "You didn't have to throw a freaking tomato at me! And I never said _tomatoes _were stupid, I said the fact that you're selling them here is- _stop that!"_ Alfred only just managed to dive away as the mad Italian grabbed more of the red fruit (?) and began flinging them at Alfred. "You're just wasting them!" he yelled, hoping that that would stop the man attacking him.

"They're not selling anyway!" the Italian yelled, tossing another tomato. "And you know what? I blame you!"

"How's that fair? You can't blame me just because you can't sell your stupid tomatoes! "He didn't think about what he was shouting, only about dodging the tomatoes. But when he stepped back onto the grass, he didn't expect the green blades around his feet to grow suddenly and wrap around his ankles, stopping him from moving.

_W-what the?_ Alfred tried to move his feet uselessly. _D-did Arthur do this? I told him not to do anything weird!_

The Italian man smirked. "Ha! You can't run now can you, bastard?" he raised another tomato, getting ready to throw it.

Alfred struggled against the somehow strong grass. He wasn't scared that the man was going to kill him, but he really liked the shirt he was wearing and didn't want it to be ruined by tomato stains. "D-dammit, Arthur!" he found himself yelling.

However, before Alfred could be splattered, the tomato in the Italian's hand almost seemed to shudder slightly before exploding.

Alfred and the strange Italian shared the same look of shock as he examined his now red hand. "...What?"

"Sorry about that!" they looked up at the sound of the voice, only to see Arthur standing, what Alfred considered, a safe distance away from them. "As much as I was enjoying that 'little fight', I suppose it'd be bad if you somehow injured the human I'm assigned to" he couldn't hide the slight smirk on his lips.

Alfred expected the Italian to attack Arthur, or at the very least demand to know how Arthur blew up his tomato. But instead, he laughed. "Oh, I see. You're a fairy too?"

Arthur smiled. "That's right. I'm technically still at school though. My name's Arthur"

"Lovino. So, that's the human you got stuck with?" Lovino said, gesturing to Alfred. "Wow, I feel sorry for you"

"I could have had worse..."

"Hey!" Alfred shouted, catching the attention of the two fairies. "Even though it's _great _that you two became friends so fast, would you mind, maybe, _getting the damn grass off me?_"

Lovino huffed, clicking his fingers. Almost immediately the grass unwound itself from around his ankles. But as he had still been struggling against the blades, he ended up falling to the ground heavily as soon as the grass was no longer fixing him in place.

"So why are you here, anyway?" Arthur asked Lovino before Alfred had a chance to complain.

"I'm keeping watch" Lovino explained "There've been complaints of demons hanging around here"

Alfred could have sworn he felt the temperature drop.

"...Demons? Really?" Arthur asked, suddenly not as cheery as before.

"Sì, that's why I'm pretending to be a tomato merchant, so that I don't catch their attention"

"Riiiight" Alfred began sarcastically "'Cause there's nothing more discreet then an angry man throwing tomatoes at people..."

Lovino's eyes narrowed at the American "Shut the hell up! And I could do a _lot _worse to you then just throw tomatoes at you..."

"That's right, mi amigo!" a new, happier voice suddenly said. "It's a very bad idea to annoy fairies. If you value your life, that is" the voice came from a Spanish brunette who was standing next to the tomato stand, smiling happily.

Alfred groaned, expecting the Spaniard to be another fairy. What he _didn't _expect was for Lovino to pull out something that largely resembled a gun and to point it at the Spanish man's head.

"So you've finally shown yourself, you damn demon!" Lovino yelled, brandishing the gun dangerously.

Alfred squeaked, not sure how to react to the situation in front of him. He glanced at Arthur for answers but the British fairy didn't notice him, and instead face palmed, muttering "Oh, great...It's one of _his _friends"

The Spaniard looked surprised for a few seconds, before laughing merrily. "Ah, you misunderstand! I'm not here to cause trouble!"

"That's what they all say" Lovino growled.

"But it's true! My name's Antonio. Here" Antonio pulled out a small card from his pocket; similar to the one Alfred had received from Arthur the other day. He handed it to Lovino "This should clear any suspicions. And if that doesn't convince you, I believe the fairy with the large eyebrows over there knows my friend, Francis!"

Arthur huffed, looking the other way as Alfred turned to him with a shocked expression. "Francis was a demon?" Alfred asked in surprise. His mental image of a demon had been some kind of monster with bat wings and horns. The Frenchman and Spaniard really weren't living up to his expectations.

"Alfred" Arthur said coolly. "_Never _mention that name in my presence"

Lovino scowled as he read the card. "...Dammit..." he muttered under his breath. "Even so" he said, now addressing Antonio "I'll have to take you in. There've been a lot of fake I.D cases lately"

"Sí, sí, I understand" Antonio nodded, not resisting when Lovino grabbed his wrist and began leading him away.

"I guess I'll see you two around" Lovino said to Arthur and Alfred before walking off, Antonio in tow.

"I was watching that little fight you were having with that American earlier, and I've noticed your face goes really red when you're angry, like a tomato!"

"S-shut-up!"

"Whatever you say, mi tomate~"

"_Shut up!_"

Alfred stared after the odd pair for a few seconds before turning back to Arthur. "...What the hell just happened?"

* * *

_...I'm not sure either XD Yay, Spamano hints XD I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review and tell me what you think ^0^_


	6. Learning and Sunsets

Alfred was obviously freaked out by what had happened at the park, and immediately went home. He texted Kiku, who he had been supposed to meet there, saying that he felt ill and needed to lie down.

As he walked along the path, slightly dazed, Arthur wordlessly trailed behind him. The American barely acknowledged his presence, trying to get his head around the events of the past few hours.

When he finally made it to his house, he slammed the door behind him, forgetting about the British fairy. Arthur scowled, the door almost crashing into his face, but said nothing. He chose to fade through the door, rather than getting angry and demanding someone open it for him.

Alfred walked into the kitchen, opening a cupboard and peering inside. His emergency McDonalds sat inside, practically begging to be eaten. He reached inside the paper bag, bringing out four cheese burgers. He was too disturbed to eat his usual twelve.

As the American placed the burgers in the microwave, attempting to heat them up, Arthur grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. He bit it thoughtfully as he continued to watch Alfred.

Alfred grunted a 'hello' to Matthew who was sitting down as slouched into the living room. They then had an argument over who could use the computer. Matthew wanted to do homework and Alfred wanted to play Skyrim.

Arthur regarded them both, sitting on the couch. The polar bear that Matthew had decided to adopt turned to the Brit sleepily, resting its head on his lap. Arthur stroked its fur absentmindedly, not allowing his gaze to stray from the two squabbling brothers.

After Alfred had finally recovered slightly from the strange day he had been having, he began to pace around the house, glancing behind him occasionally. Wherever he went, Arthur would follow. When he stopped, Arthur would stop too, only to go after him when Alfred started walking again.

To be honest, he found the whole thing very unsettling.

Arthur did not, however, follow him into the bathroom, as that would have been awkward for both of them. Instead, he sat outside the door, hugging his knees as he patiently waited for the American, quietly humming to himself.

Alfred was more than a little surprised when he opened the door, stepping back in alarm as Arthur jumped to his feet, watching Alfred expectantly. "Dude, what the hell?" Alfred clutched his chest, almost as if he was expecting a heart attack. "I swear, you're like some dejected puppy!" Arthur turned to continue following the American after he rushed past him, but Alfred glanced back behind him, eyes narrowing. "Would you stop that? I know that you're 'assigned' to me, or whatever, but I'm sure that you don't have to be around me 24/7! Can you just go away for a little while? I want to be on my own!"

This was how Arthur found himself lying on the roof of Alfred's house, staring at the sky. He didn't really know where else he could go. He was supposed to stay as close to his assigned human as possible, swooping in to assist them when they needed help. Except that didn't seem to be the case. The way Alfred kept trying to avoid him made it seem like the American almost hated him. Okay, maybe it had been a shaky start, but Arthur had really been hopeful. He had really thought his placement would work out. Could he have done something wrong...?

No, it was obviously the human's fault. He was doing his best, dammit! There was no reason for Alfred to be so rude. It wasn't his fault that Arthur's school had said almost nothing about what he was supposed to do.

"_Good luck!_" The teacher's had said. "_From now on you will be learning how to live in the human world. This should hopefully be a good learning experience for both you and your human. Now, each fairy tends to complete their course with their assigned human differently. For example, some could learn a great truth about themselves. When your course is completed, you will be called back for graduation. Please do your best!_"

Arthur huffed. A 'great truth'...? What exactly was he supposed to learn? What was he supposed to _do_? He had once heard that someone passed by falling in love with their human...Arthur laughed suddenly, startling a few people who were walking along the pavement below. He waved to them cheerily, and they decided that the strange man sitting on someone's roof was none of their business, and that they should just go home and pretend nothing happened.

The fairy continued to chuckle. So, what? Was he supposed to fall in love with Alfred? Like _that _was ever going to happen! He was sure that idiot was doing his best to get rid of him! And it took everything Arthur had to resist the urge to turn him into a toad!

The laugher ended with a quiet sigh. Arthur was really going to have to figure out a way to get along with Alfred. There was no way their 'relationship' would work if he didn't...And...

Arthur paused. He gasped, still staring at the sky. What was...Holy-!

He vanished from the roof, reappearing in Alfred's room. The American had somehow won the rights to the computer and was now playing Slender. "A-Alfred!" Arthur pointed out the window, eyes wide.

Alfred turned on his chair, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, it's you" Alfred sighed. "What is it now? Have _unicorns_ invaded?"

"The sky's turned orange!"

Alfred blinked. He jumped to his feet, peering out the window. "Um...Yeah" Alfred said slowly. "The sun's setting"

"Is it supposed to do that?" Arthur looked so serious and worried that Alfred almost burst out laughing.

"Well, yeah!" Alfred said. "That's kind of its thing. It rises in the morning and sets in the evening. You know, to bring day and night"

"...And it does that every day?"

Alfred stared at Arthur dubiously. "Dude, haven't you ever seen the _sky _before?"

"Not before I came here" Arthur shook his head with a slight frown. "I wasn't really paying attention to the sky yesterday or the day before, and it was already dark when I first arrived here, so this is the first time I've seen the sun...'setting', as you called it"

"But...Dude, how is that possible?"

"For nearly our entire lives, we stay at our school" Arthur explained with a little shrug. "The first time we're supposed to go outside is when we get assigned to a human"

"So..." Alfred continued to stare. "Until you came here, you'd never been outside?"

"Maybe once, when I was very little" Arthur said thoughtfully. "But besides that it's like you just said. I've never been outside.

"...Isn't that a little, I don't know, cruel?"

"You don't miss what you don't know" Arthur said coolly.

Silence followed, obviously signalling that the conversation had ended. Arthur decided to lie on Alfred's bed, staring at the ceiling curiously, and Alfred went back to his annoyingly impossible game. He glanced back at Arthur, slightly concerned. What kind of life did Arthur live, or any fairy for that matter, at that school? If he was locked away somewhere, never allowed to go outside, he would probably go mad in less than a week. _Especially _if that place was school. School was his current definition of hell.

With another sigh, Alfred drew his attention back to his game. Things were so much more simple there. All you had to do was go around some dark forest to find eight notes, while some crazy faceless monster thing that wanted 20 dollars hunted you down. Much more simple then his life.

He screamed when the monster appeared again, throwing his hands up into the after getting over the initial fear. "Four notes!" Alfred yelled, exasperated. "He always gets me at the fourth damn note!"

"Why do you play that game if you can't complete it?" Arthur asked from his place on the bed. "And it's obvious by the amount of screaming that that thing scares you"

Alfred frowned, wondering how Arthur could understand the concept of video games when he didn't even know what a sunset was. "'Cause it's fun" Alfred said simply. "And anyway, it might be scary, but that's the point! It's not like he's real or anything, right?" He smiled to himself, but faltered when there was no reply. "He's not...right?...Right? Hey, Arthur...?" Alfred's voice turned an octave higher with every word as his anxiety increased. He didn't see the faint smirk on Arthur's lips, obviously happy with Alfred's unease.

Needless to say, Alfred did not sleep well that night.

* * *

..._I don't know where this chapter came from XD Please review if you can, reviews feed my creativity and motivate me ^0^_


	7. Umbrellas and Rain

The sound of the front door slamming shut brought Alfred out of his uneasy sleep. He sighed, deciding that he would spend the last few precious seconds he had in bed trying to fall back asleep, wishing that he didn't have to leave his room at all.

It was, after all, a Monday. Which meant that he had to return to that prison of a school.

His eyes fluttered open again. Alfred had noticed something wrong his nightstand. Or rather, the clock on his nightstand. It read 8:30. But that was impossible. The stupid thing had to have been broken. If it was really that time, then that meant school started in only fifteen minutes. He would have been awake and dressed by this time, after being repeatedly woken by Matthew, and would leave for school with him…

He sat up. The front door had closed. Hoping that he was wrong, Alfred pushed the curtains aside and peered out of the window.

In the distance, he could see a familiar red hoodie with a maple leaf on the back bobbing away. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was.

"Dammit, Matthew!" Alfred screamed, realising his own brother had abandoned him. He dived out of bed, making a run for the door. He didn't get far before tripping and tumbling over a curled up lump on his bedroom floor.

Arthur grumbled sleepily, glancing at the fallen American from his makeshift bed. Finding the downstairs couch uncomfortable, Arthur had constructed a new bed from unused cushions, clothes and an old duvet. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Alfred glared at him pointedly. "Why did you have to sleep right there?" he asked angrily, rubbing his leg where it had collided painfully with the floor. He didn't wait for an answer, and climbed back onto his feet and sprinted out the door. Arthur fully emerged from his bed, and followed tiredly.

In a whirlwind of activity, Alfred somehow managed to get dressed, brush his teeth, comb his hair and even eat breakfast all at the same time. Arthur stared at him amusedly, hugging his own pale green pyjamas. They had been found inside the paper bag along with the other clothes, and Arthur had worn them reluctantly, even if he did like the colour. But it did lead him to ask; how did Francis know his exact size?

Alfred hurriedly forced whatever he needed into his school bag, mentally telling himself that he would kill Matthew later. He had been such a rush; he hadn't noticed that his shirt was backwards, his shoes were on the wrong feet, his hair dishevelled and glasses lopsided.

Arthur had attempted pointing this out, but had quickly been cut off with a, 'I'm busy, Arthur!' With a sigh, Arthur clapped his hands together. Alfred's hair and clothes immediately began rearranging themselves into their proper place. Alfred didn't even seem to notice.

Finished with packing, Alfred sprinted out the house, even though a voice in his head told him there was no point, that he would have already missed the bus. Arthur quickly moved after him, not wanting to lose sight of his assigned human.

"Alfred!" Arthur called. "I could-!"

"Not now, Arthur!" was Alfred's immediate reply. He was going to be late no matter what he did, but maybe if he continued running, he just might not be so late that he was given a detention. Although, most of the teachers seemed to have it in for him, so he'd probably get in trouble either way.

But then Arthur was suddenly standing in front of him, the black umbrella from a few days ago in his hand. Alfred stopped. "What now? I don't have time for anything weird, Arthur!"

"I can help." Alfred didn't like the sudden mischievous glint in Arthur's eyes.

Alfred sighed, feeling defeated. He had been hoping that he would be involved as little as possible with anything 'magical'. "Okay, how?"

The umbrella was opened and forced into Alfred's hands. "You've heard of Mary Poppins, right?"

"Um, yeah? Why are you aHHHH-!" what Alfred had been about to say was cut off by his own shrill scream. A sudden gust of wind had blown, yanking Alfred's arms and the umbrella up and, to his utter horror, lifting his feet off the ground. The pavement that he had been running across a few mere seconds ago was now an increasingly large drop away.

And Alfred didn't, or rather _couldn't, _stop screaming. He clung onto the umbrella's handle for dear life, his eyes squeezed shut. All he knew was that he was still spinning and spinning in the strong breeze. He had never been so scared in his entire life. Well, except, maybe, for that time he had been playing hockey against Matthew…

"Would you stop screaming?" Alfred forced his eyes open, scanning the endless sky for Arthur. He was floating a little bit away from him, his arms spread out as he balanced himself on the breeze. He was obviously enjoying Alfred's absolute terror.

"Y-you!" Alfred stuttered. "Get me down! Get me down _right now_!" He refused to look down.

"What was that?" Arthur feigned innocence, talking louder as if he hadn't heard the American properly. But his slight smirk told Alfred otherwise. "You want to go higher?"

Alfred felt his heart stop. "N-no! No-!" The screech that came out of Alfred's mouth was an octave higher than his earlier scream. He hugged the handle as the wind attacked him again; playing around with him in the air and making him twist and turn.

"A-Arthur!" Alfred yelled, his eyes shut tight again, a few rebellious tears forming. "S-stop it! Just stop it! _Please_!" Alfred could barely hear his own screams over the roar of the wind. He wished that he could stop sobbing, to laugh in the face of danger, especially since he doubted that Arthur would really let him go, but he just couldn't help it.

But the wind did stop, or at the very least, slowed down to a gentle breeze. He was no longer being thrown around, and was drifting slowly. Alfred let one of his eyes open tentatively. Arthur was staring at him with a bored and slightly disappointed expression, shifting his position so that he was sitting cross-legged in the air. "There, happy?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Alfred didn't want to push his luck, grateful that he was no longer being tossed around, and merely replied with a shaky nod and a whimper.

Arthur frowned and floated a little bit closer. "Hey…I-it was just a joke. You weren't in any _actual _danger. It was just a bit of fun." He noticed Alfred's watery eyes and tried to hide his sudden guilt with irritation. "Stop acting like a baby! I just told you, you were never in any real danger!"

"I know, I know!" Alfred squeaked. The last thing he wanted was for Arthur to get angry and start the wind again. He decided to look somewhere else, anywhere other than Arthur, who had huffed and turned away from him, and glanced down.

Now that he was no longer fearing for his life, Alfred couldn't help but admit that this was pretty cool. He kicked his feet experimentally, staring at his new bird's eye view of the world. How many people had flown using only an umbrella? As far as Alfred knew, not many. And judging by what he recognised, Alfred wasn't too far from his school now.

"Um, A-Arthur!" Alfred called suddenly. Arthur twisted around to face him, obviously still in some kind of mood with him. "This…" Alfred grinned, looking down at the buildings below, then around at the sky and the clouds above them. "This is pretty awesome!"

Alfred wondered if he was hallucinating when Arthur cracked a genuine, good-natured smile. "Oh, is it?"

"Y-yeah! Well…Without the part where you tried to kill me." Alfred adjusted his grip on the umbrella's handle slightly. Even though they were the only thing stopping him from falling and painting the ground red, his arms didn't ache at all. He mentally shrugged, deciding it was probably because of some magical fairy reason.

"I wasn't going to kill you," Arthur said. "I just…Sure, I wanted to scare you a _little, _but I didn't expect you to burst into tears like that." Alfred looked like he wanted to argue, but Arthur spoke again. "Anyway, I…I thought it'd be fun…"

"'Fun'?" Alfred echoed. "Dude, if I wanted that kind of excitement I would have just gone on a rollercoaster. Same idea, but less terrifying."

Arthur's expression turned confused. "…Rollercoaster?"

"Never mind." Alfred turned his attention back to the world around him. The fact that he was literally flying made him feel giddy, and he laughed when a few birds passed him. He wondered if he'd be able to do something like this again at some point, but with his actual consent beforehand.

It was at that moment that Alfred looked down. He recognised the red hoodie below him and his eyes narrowed. "Hey, Arthur? Can you let me down here? Slowly." He was aware of a questioning glance as he began to descend.

It wasn't the first time that Matthew had done something like this. It fact, it was entirely possible that Matthew had tried to wake up Alfred earlier but had failed miserably. But that didn't stop the fact that Alfred was pissed with his younger brother for abandoning him, and wanted some form of pay back.

"Arthur," Alfred said. His eyes were glittering darkly. "Make it rain."

Arthur blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You can do it, right? Make it rain."

"That might not be the best idea," Arthur frowned. "Dramatic changes to the weather are tricky. Even powerful fairies can have trouble with them sometimes, and if they're left on too long then it could start to change the Earth's climate, which…" he trailed off, realising that Alfred seemed pretty determined with this. "Five minutes," he said. "I can make it rain for about five minutes before I have to let the weather go back to normal."

Alfred smirked. "Do it."

Just as Alfred's feet touched the ground, landing just behind Matthew, the heavens opened. Alfred was protected because of his umbrella, and couldn't help his snicker as Matthew squeaked as he was attacked by the sudden freezing rain.

Arthur landed next to them just before Matthew realised his little trick hadn't worked, and that Alfred was somehow wide awake and had caught up with him. The rain didn't seem to touch the British fairy. Alfred would ask about this later, wondering why he had been soaked when they had first met if he could have just used magic, and Arthur would reply by explaining it was easier to manipulate what you had created yourself.

They ran towards the school, Alfred running ahead on purpose so that Matthew would have to chase him in an attempt to get under the umbrella. Arthur walked a little more slowly, figuring out a way to explain his presence to the other humans at Alfred's school.

A figure stood on the room of the school, not caring about the pouring rain. His attention was fixed solely on the British fairy and his assigned human.

"Ah," he said. The last drop of rain hit the roof, and the sun emerged as the clouds parted. "This could be a problem." And with that, he vanished from sight.

* * *

_Who was that mysterious person? :O You'll have to wait to find out~ XD Now, I know that this story is coming off as some kind of romantic comedy (I think?) but I'm just going to say now, there will be darker moments in this story. So, don't get too shocked when that happens…Anyway, please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


	8. School and Italians

In Alfred's opinion, school had always been eerily similar to prison. The only difference he could see was that they didn't have to wear uniform. He always felt uncomfortable enough there, with the teachers sneering down at him and the fights that would constantly break out, but on that particular day he felt downright nervous.

He glanced behind him, relaxing slightly when he realised Arthur was still there. He didn't trust him not to do some weird magical stuff if he left him alone. Also, strangely enough, no one seemed to notice him. Some people would say hi to Alfred or laugh about the fight with Ivan, but no one paid any attention to the British fairy, not even sparing him a questioning glance.

Although, that was probably because of some weird magic thing…again.

Thinking about it, he didn't really know much about fairies. He knew about the sparkly girly fairies in children books, but he had the suspicion that that didn't apply to Arthur. Maybe he could Google it later…

And then his head began throbbing. Alfred clutched it, not stopping, and flinched. Okay, what was with the sudden headache? He hadn't been thinking that hard.

He turned and gave Arthur a suspicious look. The British fairy stopped and raised an eyebrow. He coughed a few times, but neither noticed.

"What?"

"I've got a headache. Are you doing this?"

"…You can't blame every little thing on me, Alfred." He realised that Alfred's stern gaze was not wavering, and Arthur sighed, trying to hide another cough. "No, Alfred, I'm not the cause of your headache."

"Well, maybe not directly…" Alfred muttered. But the pain soon faded, and Alfred decided that it was probably nothing. If anything, it had probably been because of stress. He had been through quite a lot over the weekend.

A blur of frantic Italian rushed past him suddenly. It was too fast for Alfred to even feel stunned, and after pausing for a few seconds the blur hurried right back to him.

"E-Excuse me, have you seen Ludwig anywhere?" Ah, it was Feliciano. Alfred remembered that the pasta-loving Italian, who had the power to retreat at inhuman speeds, had joined his school about a year ago. He had immediately latched onto Ludwig, another classmate of Alfred's, although he was a little too serious for his liking.

Alfred was hit with a rather sudden feel of deja-vu. Why did Feliciano seem so…familiar? He saw him practically every day, although, for some reason, any memories he had of the strange Italian were often blurry at best, so what was with this weird feeling?

And it hit him. Alfred's mouth fell open, and he felt himself grow limp. Even though he was lacking a constant frown, and there were a few height/hair colour issues, Feliciano looked almost exactly like the crazy, tomato throwing fairy from the other day.

Arthur had reached him now, wondering why Alfred had stopped and was now just standing there like an idiot, but also paused when he say Feliciano. He smiled. As Feliciano's attention was drawn to Arthur, Alfred could practically see their, 'Oh, so you're a fairy too?' 'Yep! Do you like pasta?' '…Um, sure?' conversation before it even happened.

"_What the hell?" _Alfred's voice came out as some kind of (manly) scream, causing a few people to stare at him. But most of them were used to him being weird, and soon continued with whatever they had been doing.

Feliciano jumped back with a small squeak. "V-Ve…What did I do? I'm sorry!"

Alfred lowered his voice slightly when he spoke next. "…You're a fairy?"

"Y-Yes." Feliciano was still cowering in fear. Even his hair curl seemed to be trembling. "I-I was assigned to Ludwig a-about a year ago." Something seemed to dawn on him, and he stiffened slightly. "Oh! Ludwig doesn't know that I'm a…P-Please don't tell him!"

"We won't," was Arthur's immediate response. Alfred felt confused. Arthur had had absolutely no problem with telling him about the whole fairy thing, so why had Feliciano never told Ludwig? …Ah, he probably had his reasons…

"Um, sure. I won't tell him. Hey, the other day, I met another Italian fairy who looked a lot like you. Was he..?

Feliciano's mood brightened. "Oh, you know my big brother? Are you friends?"

"…He tried to kill me with tomatoes."

"…Oh. Well, that sounds like him."

"He's your brother?" Arthur was frowning.

"Yep!" Feliciano laughed nervously. "I know it's a little weird, but…"

"'Weird'? What the hell is that supposed to mean? The two of you look exactly alike!"

"No, Alfred." Arthur shook his head. "That's not it. It's extremely rare for fairies to have siblings."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Really…? Why?" He paused. "Wait, didn't you say that you had brothers?"

"…E-Excuse me?"

"Yeah, when we first met! You said something about someone called Peter, and then, 'the rest of my brothers…' Yep, that's totally what you said."

"I…I did?" Arthur ran a hand through his hair, his expression darkening. He seemed so…confused. "I-I suppose I did…"

"Hey, you alright?" Alfred blinked at him worriedly.

"Yes, I'm just-,"

The bell rang, signalling the start of registration. Feliciano jumped up, back in frantic retreat mode. "Ah, I have to find Ludwig!" He turned on his heel and ran, screaming as he went, "_Ludwig~?! Where are you?" _

Alfred sighed. So it was going to be another one of _those _days, huh?

* * *

_Well, I'm ending a short chapter in a weird place XD Sorry it took so long, I've just had no time to write recently due to school T-T_

_Oh, and don't worry about Ludwig :) He finds Feliciano sobbing in a broom closet about losing his assined human. Of course, he has no idea what he's talking about XD And about Matthew randomly disappearing from last chapter, let's just say he went straight to his form room or something XD_

_Now, there is a reason why Feliciano didn't tell Ludwig he was a fairy, and it's different from the obvious cute 'what if he hates me?' reason. It's actually linked to one of the darker moments of this fic… In fact, a lot of seemingly meaningless things in this chapter are linked to the darker moments XD But it'll probably take a while to get to it… ^^' Oh, oh, and if you have any ideas as to what you think should happen in this story, don't be afraid to put it in a review XD I have a lot of this planned out, but there are some empty spaces…XD_

_Well, please review and tell me what you think ^0^_


	9. Explanations and Danger

"I. Can't. Believe. This." Alfred stomped down the hall, slamming as many doors behind him as possible. Arthur followed. "Ivan Braginski? _Ivan Braginski? _What the hell?" He reached his locker and stopped. "This is so unfair!"

"It's just a project," Arthur said. He didn't seem bothered by Alfred's rage. "I don't see what the problem is…"

"The _problem _is that I have to work with Ivan Braginski! The neighbourhood psychopath! Haven't you heard the stories about that guy?"

"Um, no? I've only here for half a day, Alfred."

"…Right. But anyway, why didn't you say anything? We were all getting into pairs, and Kiku had already been set up with Ludwig, so it would have been much easier if you had just said something and went with me." Alfred paused. "You know, no one's noticed you all day. You were sitting in class right next to me and no one cared. Isn't that kind of weird?"

Arthur waved his hand. "Oh, that's just because I don't want to be noticed. I thought it'd be easier than changing the memory of everyone and messing around with the school records."

"So…You're invisible?"

"Not exactly. It's more like a perception filter. I'm still there, but they can't pay attention to me. It doesn't work on people who already know me or other magical beings, though."

"Oh, um, okay then." Alfred merely raised an eyebrow. He turned away with a small shrug and opened his locker.

…_Huh?_

His umbrella, which he had shoved inside the locker the moment he had stepped in school, sat where he would have expected it to, but…

"Um," Alfred held the worn, hole covered umbrella up, "Didn't you fix this?"

Arthur crossed his arms and looked at Alfred curiously. "I did?"

"Yeah. It was all broken, but then you fixed it after I let you borrow it in the rain, remember?"

"Alfred," Arthur was clearly confused, "What are you talking about?"

_What?_ Slowly, Alfred put the umbrella back in its original place and closed the locker door, staring at Arthur the entire time. What was going on? He could clearly remember lending Arthur his umbrella, and finding that it was completely fixed when the Brit returned it. It was only a few days ago, so why did Arthur looked so…puzzled? Did fairies have terrible memories or something? And anyway, why was it suddenly broken again?

He sighed. He didn't want to have to deal with this supernatural magic stuff. There was probably a logical reason for it happening anyway…Well, logical in a fairy way.

"Come on," Alfred said. "It's lunchtime; let's go outside."

* * *

Alfred found Kiku sitting at one of the many picnic tables around the back of the school, only just finished with his lunch. He grinned and waved wildly at his friend. "Hey! Kiku!"

Kiku looked up at him, smiling. "Hello, Alfred-san."

"Hey, um, there's someone I want you to meet." Alfred gave Arthur a quick, 'Make yourself visible so he doesn't think I'm crazy,' look. "This is Arthur Kirkland. He's, er…He's a British transfer student and he's staying at my place. We're kind of friends."

"Ah," Kiku bowed his head in a welcoming gesture, "It's nice to meet you, Kirkland-san."

Arthur stared at Kiku.

"Um…I'm sure he's fine with you just calling him Arthur." Alfred glanced at Arthur uneasily. What was wrong with him _now?_

"I see. Well, A-Arthur-san, I'm Kiku Honda. I'm a close friend of Alfred-san's."

Arthur continued to stare at Kiku.

"…Dude, you okay?" Alfred waved a hand in front of Arthur's face. He blinked a few times, suddenly snapped out of whatever trance he had been in.

"I-I'm fine," Arthur said, quickly looking away.

After a few more worried questions, all of which were replied to curtly, they sat down together. Kiku questioned Arthur a few times, mainly about if he was enjoying his stay so far and what his old school was like, and Alfred was surprised by how effortlessly the fairy could lie. If he hadn't known any better, he would have though Arthur was another normal human, just like he had with Feliciano.

Speaking of Feliciano…

"Ve~ Kiku~!" The Italian's arms wrapped around Kiku from behind. Feliciano's sudden hug seemed to make him uncomfortable, but he forced a smile and greeted him politely. "Oh, and Alfred and Arthur too? Ciao~!"

"Stop it, Feliciano." Ludwig, appearing from seemingly nowhere, pulled him away. Arthur's eyes narrowed.

"Aww…"

Ludwig ignored the puppy-dog look and said, "I'm sorry about him."

"It's fine," Alfred replied. He had never really minded the Italian's presence, although finding out that he was a fairy was a little weird…

"Right." Ludwig nodded. "Er, Kiku, I wanted to discuss our project. Privately, if that's okay."

"Oh, o-of course." Kiku stood. "Alfred-san, Arthur-san, I'll see the two of you later, I suppose."

Feliciano got up to follow them, but Ludwig stopped him.

"Feliciano, I said 'privately'. I want to speak to Kiku alone."

"What? B-But…" Feliciano's lower lip trembled.

Alfred was expecting the German to get annoyed and shout, but Ludwig smiled gently. "I won't be long. Just wait for me here, okay?"

He watched them leave, falling next to Alfred dejectedly. He ve'd sadly, shifting into a more comfortable position on the wooden seat.

"Dude, why don't you just tell him you're a fairy and that you have to stay with him? Or just turn invisible and go after him anyway."

"But…Ludwig said it was private…And I can't tell him that I'm a fairy, otherwise he might realise-…" Feliciano bit his lip, cutting off whatever he had been about to say.

"You mean he doesn't know _that_ either?" Arthur blinked at Feliciano dubiously.

'_That'…?_ Alfred frowned, but didn't say anything.

A few seconds past in awkward silence.

"So, um... The weather was really weird today!" Feliciano said cheerfully. "It just suddenly started raining out of nowhere~!"

"Oh, right." Arthur raised a hand. "That was me."

"Ve~ I see." Feliciano's smile slipped away suddenly. "…I-Isn't that a little dangerous? What if there's a demon nearby…?"

"It's fine. I only changed it for around five minutes, and demons don't usually like places like these."

"Hey, I've been wondering about that," Alfred spoke up suddenly. "That Spanish guy and, um, Francis are demons, right? So, does that mean they're from some kind of weird underworld place, or…?"

"…No, not really." Arthur looked uncomfortable. "Actually, that's really just what we call them. We all come from the same world. In reality, I suppose you would say it's more like the Seelie and Unseelie Courts."

Alfred looked at him blankly.

Before Arthur could explain what that meant, Feliciano said, "It's also about rank~!" He jumped down to his knees and began drawing two parallel lines in the dirt. About halfway up the first line, he drew a circle. "This would be where the fairies are," he said, writing a small 'F' inside. "And this," he drew a circle on the second line, but this one was at the very bottom, "Would be the lower demons."

"Um, 'lower demons'?"

"Yep! And up here would be the higher demons." Another circle was drawn, this one much higher than the 'LD' one. It was still significantly lower than the fairy one, though.

"And this…" Feliciano's happy tone faltered. "This would be The Fey."

Alfred would have expected the circle to have been joined to the fairy line. But no, the circle representing 'The Fey' was drawn right at the top of the second line instead.

"Who are The Fey?" Alfred asked.

"They're the ones in charge," Arthur explained. "They rule over almost every fairy and demon. They also own our school, so you could also say they're like our teachers."

"They're scary…" Feliciano added with a small whimper.

"'Almost' every fairy?" Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"Well…Demons don't usually listen to them, and The Fey don't have any jurisdiction over fairies with an escape plan…"

"They'd be over here." Feliciano smiled again and drew one more circle. This one wasn't restricted to the lines. "My big brother said he's actually planning on getting me one, which is unusually nice of him~! But if anyone finds out, then-…" He froze. "Ah…I-I wasn't supposed to talk about the escape plan…" The blood had drained from the Italian fairy's face, and he was shivering slightly. It suddenly looked like he was about to start crying any second.

"It's fine," Arthur said immediately. "There's no way for them to know."

"B-But…T-They might-!"

"Hey, um, I'm a little confused," Alfred cut in. "What do you mean by 'escape plan'?"

"I-I can't tell you!" Feliciano wailed. "It's classified!"

Alfred wasn't sure what to do. Ludwig was always an expert on stopping Feliciano from crying, but he had no idea where he was. Also, what did a fairy need an 'escape plan' for?

He stood. "I'm, um, I'm going to go for a walk," Alfred said. The two fairies blinked up at him. "Alone." He left them at the table, both looking rather confused.

He didn't really understand much about them, he realised. Their lives were obviously very different from his own. He didn't understand the problem, what the 'escape plan' was meant to be, or why Feliciano had seemed so terrified after accidently revealing he was supposed to get one.

The only thing he could think of that would help would be to leave them alone. Since Arthur was a fairy, he'd be able to talk to Feliciano about the plan freely and without getting confused like Alfred would, and Alfred was clearly not supposed to hear about it anyway. Also, Ludwig would come back soon and he could cheer Feliciano up by just being in the room.

Alfred continued walking. There were many fields at the back of the school, mainly used by people who were skipping classes. Today, they were strangely silent. He looked back.

The school building was no longer in sight.

He glanced down at his watch, finding he had about fifteen minutes before lunch ended. He didn't want to turn back already and face his crazy, fairy-filled life, so what was he supposed to do for the next few minutes?

He shivered. Had it always been so cold? The sun was still shining, looking extremely warm, so why…?

A growl. Well, that was putting it simply. A low, guttural noise was emitting from behind Alfred. He spun around.

It might have been human once. Except muscle and hair were bulging in all the wrong places, and it crawled clumsily on all fours. Its jagged teeth snapped together, and it's wide eyes stared at Alfred hungrily.

Alfred stepped back. "W-Wha…?" he choked. What was that _thing_?

It moved towards him with another growl. Whatever it was, food was on its mind.

His mind went blank. He slowly stepped back again and again, but the thing was moving faster. Soon it would reach him, and Alfred was positive that it would kill him. It was _going to _kill him.

"A-Arthur-!"

And then something changed. A shadow fell over them, as if the sun had been blocked. And suddenly, stunning Alfred, something fell out of the sky and pierced the monster.

…_A sword?_

Someone jumped down next to it. They moved too fast for Alfred to see. He could barely see them grab the sword, lifting it out of the limp monster before bringing it down again and again. The thing had stopped struggling a long time ago, and Alfred began wondering if this was overkill as they continued to stab it. When the figure finally decided that the monster was truly dead, they turned to Alfred, still clutching the blood covered sword.

This new person was completely covered in black. The clothes covering their entire body didn't exactly seem comfortable, so maybe it was armour? But it also meant that Alfred had no way to tell if this stranger was a man or a woman, mainly their face was covered by a mask. Like the rest of their suit, it was pure black.

It occurred to Alfred that this person just saved his life. "Oh! T-Thanks! I mean, that thing was going to kill me! If you hadn't shown up, I would have…" He trailed off. The stranger was staring at him silently.

The blood soaked sword glinted at him.

"Um…I'm going to, um, go now…" Alfred moved back. The figure only closed the distance.

_They're trying to kill me too now? That was, like, five seconds after they just saved me! _Alfred thought desperately, preparing to make a run for it.

Another person stepped in front of him.

"No," Francis said, one hand pushing Alfred away from the other figure. "You can't have him. You've done your job; now go."

The stranger made no attempt to leave.

Francis huffed and pulled something out of his pocket. From Alfred's view, it looked a bit like a passport.

"Understand?" Francis's tone was oddly serious. "Go. Now."

A few more painfully long seconds passed. Alfred could have sworn that the figure was glaring at him before they vanished.

Alfred looked at Francis sceptically. "You're not going to try and kill me too, are you?"

"No." Francis shook his head. He smiled, a little relieved. "That was close, though. Another second, and he probably would have…"

"Yeah…But who was that? And what was that monster thing?"

"He was…Well, I think it would be best if you knew as little about him as possible. Hopefully, you'll never have to see him again. Oh, and that 'monster thing' was probably a demon."

"Um…" Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a demon?"

"I'm a higher demon," Francis explained. "That would have been a lower demon. There's a difference."

"…Oh." Now that there was no obvious danger, Alfred found himself relaxing. He looked down at his watch, finding he had maybe 6 minutes left. "I should start heading back to school…Um, before I go, w-why were they trying to kill me…?"

"Well, I suspect the demon was attracted by the extra magic." To Alfred's confused face, he replied, "Some lower demons find the smell of magic rather…delicious. And powerful spells often leave excess magic around. They usually hate areas filled with too much industry, but it would have been attracted by the smell of magic. He probably saw you and thought you'd be an easy meal."

"A powerful spell, huh…" _D-Does he mean when I told Arthur to make it rain? Was that what attracted the demon? _"But what about the other guy?"

"Now, now," Francis shook his head, "Didn't you say you had to get back to school?"

"I-!"

"Here, I'll help you." Francis placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder. There was a weird tugging feeling, as if some unknown force was yanking him back, and the scenery changed. They were now at the picnic tables again.

Arthur pounced on them immediately.

"There you are!" His expression was a weird mix of concern and anger. "I could sense a demon; you were attacked, weren't you? This is exactly why I'm supposed to stay with you! But…But I couldn't find you, I-!"

"It's okay, Arthur." Francis smiled at him reassuringly. "He's fine. I made sure of it."

The British fairy's eyes narrowed. "Why are you here, frog?"

"Just passing by. It's a good thing I did though, otherwise…" He trailed off, but smirked suddenly. "You know, I'm surprised. I wasn't expecting you to actually wear those clothes…"

"I was obviously forced to."

"Of course, of course…" The sound of the school bell rang in the distance. "Ah, I suppose that means I have to go now. Don't worry, I'll try and drop in another time. À bientôt." He vanished.

"Never come back, dammit!" Arthur yelled at the air. Alfred stared at him. "And you, I'm still angry with you."

"Yeah, yeah." Alfred rolled his eyes. "Because it's my fault that a monster tried to kill me."

"It _is _your fault! If you hadn't made me cast that spell, it would never have come near this place!"

"I didn't make you! You could have said no!"

"But-! You-!" Arthur threw his hands in the air. "Forget it!" He turned on his heel and began stomping away.

Alfred either didn't notice the fairy's rage or just didn't care. He followed him towards the school building and asked, "Where's Feliciano?"

"Ludwig came back and they went inside," Arthur told him grudgingly, obviously still upset.

"Right…Hey, um, something weird happened when that demon attacked me."

"…What?"

"Well, some guy dressed in black appeared out of nowhere and killed it. But even though he saved me, it really looked like he was about to kill me too…Francis wouldn't tell me who he was, for some reason."

Arthur froze. "What?"

"Some guy killed the demon and then went after me. Any idea who he was?"

"…Oh God. Why would _he _be…?" Arthur had paled slightly.

"So you do know him?"

"I wish I didn't…Alfred, be very careful. He isn't just 'some guy'; he's a cold and ruthless warrior, famous for his relentless killings. You should pray that you didn't catch his attention."

"…Why? Would that be bad?"

"Very."

* * *

_Motivation has hit me hard for this story XD I hope this chapter is okay :) At some point next week, my Easter holidays start, so I should hopefully be able to do more writing…If I'm not overloaded with homework and revision for exams ^^' _

_Some things in this chapter will become important later…Very important :3 I'm not sure how long it'll take for their importance to be revealed, though XD Again, I hope this chapter is okay, and I also hope it didn't seem rushed…Please review and tell me what you think ^_^_

_Note: I've changed the names of the chapters ^0^ There was no real reason behind this, other than fun XD_


	10. Salt and Jokes

For the rest of the day, Alfred's mind was a little preoccupied. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. The way Feliciano had seemed terrified after mentioning the 'escape plan', the freaky as hell demon/monster/thing, and that mysterious stranger who had saved him…before trying to kill him.

Well, hopefully he'd never see _that _guy again.

But it was exactly these thoughts that stopped him paying attention in class. No matter how much Arthur poked him or the teacher screamed his name, Alfred couldn't stop staring out of the window blankly. He was only snapped out of his trance when the teacher declared he would have to stay behind after school.

After about half an hour, Alfred was released. But it didn't really matter. The buses would have left a long time ago, and he was almost positive Matthew had ditched him again. His parents, as usual, wouldn't be home, and he also didn't know where Arthur was. …Goddammit. Wasn't it illegal to keep someone after school without telling a parent the day before or something? They really needed a new teacher…

Alfred walked down the eerily silent hall way. He hated how his footsteps echoed off the polished floor. It revealed his position to the ghosts.

He paused outside of his locker. His plan was to grab everything out of his locker and stuff it in his bag before making a break for it, (he didn't want to get attacked by anymore demons or a ghost…In his opinion the latter was way more scary), but stopped. He frowned at the inside of his locker.

"…Again?"

All holes covering his umbrella had vanished. Once again, it looked brand new.

Alfred's face was expressionless. He would have really appreciated it if someone could have told him what the_ hell_ was going on.

Ugh…His headache was back…

…Maybe Arthur was pranking him? Yeah, that made sense. The fairy was probably just trying to freak him out. Well, too bad. He wasn't scared at all. All he had to do was pretend nothing had happened, and Arthur would get upset that his joke hadn't worked. He wouldn't realise that his reaction revealed the truth to the cunning American. Genius.

He was still grinning when he turned away from the locker. But that smile turned into a frown of confusion when he saw who stood at the other end of the hall.

"Kiku? Dude, you're still here?"

Kiku smiled and went towards him. "I offered to help my teacher put the classroom back in order after school. We finished just now."

"Wow." Alfred blinked at him. "You're so…_nice."_

"No, no." Kiku shook his head. "It just seemed like the right thing to do."

"Yeah, but I'd never stay here if I actually had a choice. I'm only here right now because I had detention."

"Really? What happened?"

"Um…" Alfred started, "I wasn't listening in class…I-I was really tired, you know?" He sighed. Lying to his friend felt…wrong. "I'm going home now. You wanna come round, or…?"

"I can't right now," Kiku said sadly. "I have something important to take care of at home."

"…Oh, okay…"

Alfred waved to his friend and moved past him. Maybe playing some video games would take his mind off of things.

"Oh, Alfred-san?" Kiku said suddenly. Alfred turned to him. "Here, take this." He held something out.

The American frowned and peered closer. The hallway was rather gloomy, so it was a little hard to tell, but the object looked like a bottle of…

"…Salt?" Alfred took the object and stared at it sceptically. "Um…Why are you giving me this?"

"Think of it as a good luck charm," Kiku said. "Just make sure to take it with you if you believe you are heading to an unsafe area." The next time Kiku spoke, his voice was much softer. "It is good to have when facing demons, you see…" He spun around and quickly left the hall. By the time Alfred had processed what Kiku told him, he was already gone.

* * *

"Hey~! Where were you?" Alfred had spotted Arthur leaning against the school gate. "What happened to following me everywhere? I could have used some help with that teacher."

Arthur frowned at him. "You told me to wait out here."

"Wha-? No I didn't."

"Yes, yes you did." Arthur sighed and looked towards the sky. "You said, 'Just wait for me by the gate. This detention thing won't take too long, he'll probably just yell at me a little. Demons don't like industry, so I should be safe inside, right? If any show up, just go all fairy ninja on them."

"Oh, um…" Alfred blushed slightly. "I guess I did. Not sure why I said the fairy ninja part, you're not cool enough to be a ninja."

Arthur turned away from him. "Really? Well, if that's what you think, then I won't help you get home."

"What? Come on, man! It's really far away!" Arthur remained turned away from him. "Okay, okay, um…You _are _cool. You'd be a great ninja. …Really? Okay, um, you're super cool! Um, awesome? Amazing? The number one princess- er, fairy in the whole world? …Ar~thur~!"

Still nothing.

"Okay, do you want something? I have…um…I have salt!" Alfred held the small bottle up. He didn't have anything else.

"Salt?" Arthur did turn to him this time, a confused expression forming. "Why do you have salt? Not that I'm complaining, it might mean I don't have to worry about you as much."

"Kiku gave it me for some reason. It was kind of weird… Oh." Alfred looked at Arthur carefully. "But that was the _only _strange thing. Nothing else happened. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in my locker."

"Oh," Arthur stared at Alfred blankly, "that's nice."

Alfred deflated slightly. He had expected Arthur to be more…disappointed. If he was the cause of the whole umbrella thing, shouldn't he have reacted?

No, no, he was probably just good at acting!

"Right, well…Let's go home," Alfred said brightly. "I left my _umbrella _behind," he put stress on the word, still hoping Arthur would slip up, "so you can't do that Mary Poppins thing again."

Confusion briefly flashed across Arthur's face, but it was quickly replaced by humour. "I could always get it myself…" he said.

"Um, please don't." Alfred paled slightly. It might have been fun after a while, but the start had been enough to probably give him nightmares for a week. "Isn't there some other way? I mean, Francis teleported me earlier, so why can't you do that?"

Arthur frowned slightly at the mention of Francis. "It's hard to travel like that with other people, especially over long distances," he practically said through gritted teeth.

"But Francis didn't have any trouble!"

"Would you shut up about Francis? Why are you suddenly so interested in him?" Arthur looked away. "And of course he didn't… It's easier for someone of his…rank."

"Rank? You mean being a higher demon?"

"No…" Arthur suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I mean The Fey."

…

…

Alfred blinked. "Huh?"

"Look," Arthur said, "do you want to go home or not?"

"Oh…Um, right, right." Alfred didn't exactly want to drop the subject, but he could always press Arthur for details later. "So…Is there some other way we can get home? Without the umbrella?"

"I suppose." After a small eye roll, Arthur held out his hand. Alfred grabbed it hesitantly. "Now, whatever you do, don't let go."

"Wait, what are you-?" Alfred's words were quickly lost and replaced by a sudden yelp. They shot up suddenly, rising higher and higher at an inhuman speed. Alfred squeezed his eyes shut and tightly gripped Arthur's hand with both of his.

They slowed, now merely drifting with the wind. Alfred opened his eyes curiously. Just like earlier that day, they were now high above the ground. Even some of the tallest buildings in the city could be seen below.

He turned to Arthur. "You were trying to scare me again, weren't you?"

"Whatever are you talking about?" Arthur asked calmly. Alfred huffed and kicked his legs in the air. It felt like gravity had abandoned him, and the sensation of weightlessness was unsettling. It was like they were swimming, but without the water.

"J-Just stop doing things like this! Flying's cool and all, but only if I know we're going to fly. Doing weird pranks like this and the umbrella thing is unfair, 'cause you have magic and I don't!"

"…'Umbrella thing'…?" Arthur seemed confused, but just shrugged. "Think of it as payback."

"For…?"

"For almost getting killed, idiot! You shouldn't have made me cast that spell, and you shouldn't have run off alone."

"I was letting you and Feliciano talk things over! And anyway, why are you so angry about that? You weren't the one who was attacked!"

"I…I was…" Arthur's expression turned an interesting shade of red as he tried to finish his sentence.

Alfred looked away. "Forget it. Just…Just stop with the weird pranks, okay?"

Arthur seemed relieved about the change in conversation. "Or what?"

"…Or I'll have to get you back."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I'm sure there are plenty of things in the human world that would freak you out. And…" Alfred smiled suddenly. He had an idea. It was probably a little stupid, but it wasn't like Arthur would let anything bad happen to him, right? "And I can do this."

If he lived to think back, he would realise that he probably should have thought his plan through more. But he just wanted to do something that would scare Arthur, especially after what he had been put through so far. Although, he didn't even know if it _would _scare him. It would terrify anyone _human, _but Arthur was a fairy, and he could probably do some magic thing to save him before anything happened. It was probably that last thought that made him do it, the idea that no matter what, Arthur had the power to stop anything bad from happening. So he did it.

He let go.

The wind whipped through his hair and roared in his ears. He could only have been falling for a few seconds, he would have hit the ground already if it had been any longer, but time seemed to stretch. There was some kind of pain in his right hand, although he only wondered about this briefly.

It was faint, hard to hear over the wind, but there was a scream. Maybe someone below saw him falling. Who else could it have been?

Just as Alfred began to realise this probably wasn't his best idea, something crashed into him. They practically flew to the side, landing roughly on the top of a block of flats.

He groaned. That hurt. There was _definitely _going to be some bruising.

Disorientated, Alfred tried to sit up, but there was something on top of him. He looked down.

"Arthur?" Alfred asked distantly, staring at the pale fairy. He grinned. "Ha! I told you I could freak you out! I totally scared you, didn't I?"

Arthur didn't move, making it a little hard for Alfred to get up. He said something, something Alfred couldn't hear.

"Huh? What was that?"

"…Why?" Arthur's tone was emotionless. "Why would you…"

Alfred poked Arthur's shoulder worriedly. "Arthur? Art?"

He was pushed away suddenly. Arthur stood. "What the hell? Why the _hell _did you do that? Were you trying to give me a bloody heart attack?" He was practically screaming.

"N-No, I…" Alfred's grin faltered. Okay, that might have been a _little _stupid, but wasn't Arthur overreacting? "It was just a joke. I mean, I knew you wouldn't let me die. You said yourself, if I die then you'd fail this whole exam thing."

Arthur stared at him. He was trembling slightly. "…What kind of excuse is that? That's your _only _reason for almost getting yourself killed? What kind of idiot are you? And…And saying _that…_Saying that's the only reason I'd save you…Do you really think I'm that heartless?"

"I…Okay, I guess that last part came out a little wrong…But what's with you? You're a _fairy! _You have magic! It should have been easy for you to save me. And you did anyway, so what's the problem?

"I-It doesn't work like that! What if I hadn't been able to reach you in time? You would have been killed!"

"But you _did! _Okay, so _maybe _it was a little extreme for a joke, but I don't see why you have to yell at me…"

"You-!" Arthur stopped himself. He sighed, sounding almost sad. "You know what? Forget it. I don't care." He turned away from Alfred, who had only just stood up. "I'm going. You can find your own way home."

And with that, he vanished.

"A-Arthur?" Alfred yelled into the wind. He realised just how high up he was. "Arthur, come back!"

* * *

_Chapter end._

_Okay, how did it end like this 0_0 When I first planned this chapter, it was different…Only about the first half actually stayed the same XD _

_It's been a while since I last updated, but I've been overloaded with exams :( I've only been able to write this one because I had a week off on holiday. But I only have a few exams left, and then it's the summer holidays! :D Then I'll be able to update more XD_

_We'll see how Alfred's doing next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


	11. Irritation and Alfred Doesn't Understand

"Arthur!" Alfred called for the fifteenth time. "Come back! Look, I'm sorry, okay? I get it, the joke went too far." He looked at the dizzying drop below him. "Y-you can't leave me up here forever!"

He sighed and sat down heavily. How long had he been stranded for? Probably anything between ten minutes and an hour. It didn't really matter; he was obviously going to be there for a lot longer. And of course today would be the day he left his mobile phone at home.

After the first few minutes of nothing but screaming for Arthur to come back, Alfred found himself feeling bad about his earlier action. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but Arthur's reaction said otherwise. What had he been thinking? Was nearly killing himself really worth scaring the fairy?

There was also the fact that Alfred, although maybe not obviously, had been hoping that he and Arthur were starting to get along. He had barely noticed it himself, but he was starting to enjoy the fairies presence. Well, realising this now wasn't going to do any good. Arthur had been more than a little angry with him and left him no way to get down from the building's roof.

Damn, he was hungry…

He stood up again suddenly. "Dammit, Arthur! Let me down!" Alfred practically screamed. "_Arth-"_

"What the _hell_ is with all the yelling?!" a voice from below yelled. Alfred froze. He recognised that voice…

A little hesitantly, Alfred peered over the edge. A very familiar and very angry looking Italian was leaning out of a high up window and glaring up at him. When he saw Alfred, his face showed a clear 'oh, it's _you _again' expression.

"Oh! You're Feliciano's brother! Um…" Alfred paused in thought, trying to remember the other's name. "Lo… Lo… Um, Lorenzo?"

"It's Lovino, you idiot!" Lovino snapped. "But that's not the point! Why the hell are you screaming, and what are you doing up there in the first place?!"

Alfred shrugged. "No reason."

"So, what? You just decided to take an evening walk on top of a building?"

"...Um, sure?"

Lovino's eyes narrowed further. Never letting Alfred out of his sight, he slowly clenched his fist together.

The American clearly felt an invisible hand close around him. He looked around with wide eyes, unable to move, and- oh hell, why was he floating now?

With a simple flick of the Italian's wrist, Lovino tossed Alfred through the window. Alfred cried out in alarm and pain when he hit the floor. He had enough bruises from earlier.

"What'd you do that for?" America glared at the fairy, rubbing the sore parts of his body that had collided with the floor.

"Because you piss me off," Lovino replied coolly. "Now, a_gain, _why were you on the roof?"

Alfred huffed. "I upset Arthur, okay? He got angry and left me there."

"Oh, amigo, didn't I tell you?" Alfred spun around. Sitting at a table in a kitchen-like area was Antonio, the Spanish demon. "It's a very bad idea to annoy fairies," Antonio continued, "they have the power to do so many things in revenge, and their magic goes kind of crazy easily. I tall depends of their emotions."

"Exactly," Lovino said to Alfred, jabbing a finger in his direction. "So keep that in mind the next time you want to go screaming around on a fairy's roof- _Whoa, whoa, wait a minute_!" Lovino's mouth fell open as he suddenly noticed the Spaniard. "Why the hell are you here?! I thought I told you to stop following me!"

"Lovi, I'm-"

"And s_top calling me that_!"

While Lovino yelled and Antonio stared at the Italian in a rather dreamy way, Alfred looked around the room he had been thrown into. It looked completely normal. As far as Alfred could tell, it was just an ordinary apartment. Well, maybe except for all the pizza and tomato decorations.

"You live here?" Alfred asked, stopping Lovino mid scream.

"Yes, I do," Lovino said coldly. "What? Are you saying fairies can't have homes?"

"Huh? N-no! I was-"

"Are you saying that just because we have magic, we're less than human? That we don't deserve a place to live?! Is that it?!

"Where the hell is this coming from?"

"I _might_ have heard a little bit of what went on up there. Not much, but I definitely get the picture. Listen here, bastard! We may be powerful, but we still have feelings! We can get angry and sad and hungry and tired just like you idiots!"

"When did I say you couldn't?! I just thought it this place was kind of strange-"

"Oh, so now you're disrespecting my decorating skills?!"

"I- _What_? Dude, I never said that!"

"Calm down, mi tomate!"

"_Shut it, you stupid demon_!"

Alfred sighed. He was tired, hungry, and really had enough of magic for one day. He could also tell that anything Lovino said would probably involve either yelling or insults, maybe both, and Alfred didn't want to get provoked and say something he'd regret, especially if that would only get him another angry fairy.

He stared at the quarrelling (if you could call it that) fairy and demon for about a minute or two and then gave up. "'Kay, um, you two," he said awkwardly, "I'm gonna go home now."

They didn't even hear him. He glanced at them one last time before leaving through the door.

The sun was setting by the time he made it home. Thankfully the place Arthur had abandoned him was a little closer to his house than the school. Not a lot closer, though.

Matthew looked up at him, mildly surprised, when he practically collapsed through the door.

"You're home late," he said, absentmindedly scratching his polar bear's head. "I was kind of worried when Arthur came home without you."

"Um, yeah…" Alfred started. "Arthur and I had a little argument, and then I got held up. By the way, where is he?"

"Upstairs, I think."

"Right. Thanks, bro."

Without another word, Alfred turned away and began ascending the stairs. He couldn't help but feel reluctant as he neared his room. Alfred understood that he had upset Arthur, and that if they were going to live together then they'd have to at least try to get along. Maybe even become friends, although that last option became more and more improbable by the minute.

What Alfred didn't understand was _how _he had upset Arthur. Was it the fact that he had almost killed himself? …Well, that was _kind of _understandable, but Arthur had seemed downright offended, and maybe even a little sad. What had he said wrong, exactly?

He opened the door. Arthur sat on the end of his bed, reading a thick, leather bound book Alfred had never seen before.

"Um, hey, Arthur," Alfred tried to say casually. "I'm back."

Arthur didn't look up.

"…Yeah." Alfred walked inside and stood in front of the fairy. "Anyway, just so you know, I'm not happy with the way you just cruelly abandoned me so high up, but I figured that the stunt I pulled wasn't exactly heroic of me, so I forgive you."

Arthur said nothing.

"You know, Art, some people like to think of forgiveness as a two-way street. I mean, I know I upset you, even though I'm not entirely sure _how, _but what's the point in holding a grudge? It'll just make living together harder." He held out a hand. "So… what do you say? Friends?

It was fleeting, but Alfred thought he saw Arthur glance up at him. However, the fairy's eyes were immediately at the book again, so Alfred decided he probably imagined it.

Oh, so he was giving him the silent treatment now? Well, fine! Alfred could do that too- _No, no, Alfred! You were being an awesome hero by apologising first, but just ignoring him back will solve nothing! _

"I… I saw that fairy we met at the park yesterday." Alfred tried to laugh. "A-aren't you wondering if he tried to kill me with tomatoes again?"

Again, Arthur ignored him. The only movement he made was to turn a page over.

Alfred groaned. How long was this going to go on for…?

* * *

_-Chapter end_

_I hope this was okay…? ^^' Ah, I don't know XD But it's my summer holidays now, so no school and I have time to write ^0^ I'm not entirely sure 'cause this story is subject to change, but I think more will happen in the next chapter XD _

_Well, please review and tell me what you think ^_^_


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